Seasons of the Ukulele

A weekly song challenge for ukulele players - all welcome. Find out more here

Season 720 - It's ELVIS Week!

AlanDP

Elvis recorded a chorus-only version of this song for his 1973 album Elvis. It has three stanzas. I did the first and last. The chorus harmony is written in the original. The song was published in 1904.

Joko

UkeCan1

Blue Moon of Kentucky! (Covered in wk 606)

I'm sorry, Ms Wendy, our records show one Teyve's Dream for week 690. Songs do slip through the cracks…

UkeFoote

"That's All Right", by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, for banjo ukulele with singing and whistling; overdub of Ashbory Ubass. Thanks for hosting, Joko!

UkeCan1

Joko My mistake - "Hound Dog" was 695, on the uke I won for "Tevye's Dream" in 690. Corrected above.

Still 4 since 2020, 5 total. They're all there on my channel.

YorkSteve

Have I really done 13 Elvis Costello songs? Heck, it's time to do one by the other one.

From 1972.

UkeCan1

Also, I was wrong about having already done all the "blue" songs. Here's one more. Option 1 - from his first Christmas album (1957).

"Blue Christmas" from my throne, appropriately attired.

Joko

Elvis Aaron Presley was born a long time ago, on January 8, 1935, in a small town called Tupelo, Mississippi. His family wasn't rich, but his life was full of music! He grew up listening to three main types of music that would become super important: the awesome church music called Gospel, the storytelling songs of Country music, and the exciting beat of Rhythm & Blues (R&B) he heard when his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, when he was 13.

The Spark that Started a Fire

Elvis first got his big break in 1954 when he walked into a small recording place called Sun Records in Memphis. He was just a truck driver who wanted to record a couple of songs—maybe as a surprise for his mom! The owner, Sam Phillips, was trying to find a white singer who could sing with the cool, fast energy of R&B.

One day, Elvis started jamming, and he suddenly sang a song called "That's All Right" in a totally new way. It was part Country and part R&B, and people called this new mix Rockabilly! This simple song became his first little hit and showed everyone he was different.

The King Arrives on TV

His sound was so wild and new that he quickly became too big for Sun Records. He signed with a huge company, RCA Victor, and in 1956, he released "Heartbreak Hotel." It shot straight to the top of the charts! This song was so big it officially kicked off the age of Rock and Roll across the entire country.

The biggest moment came when he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on TV. It was like the Super Bowl of the 1950s—millions of people tuned in! When Elvis danced, he moved his hips and whole body in a way that was new and shocking back then. Some grown-ups thought it was too much, and for a few performances, the cameras only showed him from the waist up! But all the teenagers loved it, and his dancing and singing officially made him the "King of Rock and Roll."

(From a handout I made for uke club today)

Page 2 & 3 explains the 12-bar blues at hopefull a 5th grade level…

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jFKJGYUb4WffxSeikAk5ZdReaf-Z883s8vc84Fuqodg/edit?usp=sharing

Joko

While explaining the reason these children should be interested in a guy who died 50 years ago, we got this great sound nugget. He may not be sold on Elvis yet, but he is on Rock n Roll!

potmo

Reverse Patiche

Heartbreak Hotel sung to Your Song.

Nearsighted-Lemon-McKay

Early Elvis… Blue Moon of Kentucky

potmo

johnpoole All his songs were covers

johnpoole

potmo only if you define a cover as not being written by the singer. I think that’s a bit of a narrow definition. He had songs written for him and first recorded by him. I wouldn’t call them covers.

Joko

Certainly he adapted the songs in ways that were uniquely Elvis. In his early years, he didn't try to copy the originals v- neither did he pop-ify them to make them palatible to the (white) general listening public… He did it an entirely new way.

Yannow, this is a rabbithole I could spend all night in… so we'll leave it there.

Look… it's snowing!

UkeCan1

Love the snow! We did another BCS singout today - caroling the hallways of a hospital where one of our members works. It's full-on Christmas here. So here's my song 3, option 2 - 1971 Elvis, "Merry Christmas Baby".

Joko

This was in the intro post originally..

Joko

WHen leading the Ukulele club at school, one of the most challenging thing has been to get them to sing… anything!

Thank you guys! I told them about the Seasons and that they were playing for the whole world. From Oregon to Australia, England to Singapore - tens and tens of people would see this… so SING along!

It was the first time I was able to stop singing during a play along and they continued without me.

dr_mitch

Time for another song - this time not an Elvis original (modulo the above discussion about Elvis originals), but it's fitting as it's a famous performance of his from 1977 (at Ann Arbor) making it one of Elvis's last.

And my second copyright strike in a row!

potmo

johnpoole Joko Yes, I stand corrected, in that, afrer further review, I see that if a song was written for him but which he first performed, that that is not considered a "cover". I know he also had a big say (if not the final say) in the production.
Seems there should be a term for a song which is not written by the performer, which was my point (and my previous understanding of the term "cover").

potmo

Joko Whey kewl! Those kids are lucky to have you. I think any confusion would be quickly eliminated with a very quick explanation/ demo, which a majority if not all your students won't even need.

potmo

As a newcomer who is fascinated by the storied history of SOTU, not to mention any user group that lasts for ten years, I'm curious… I see from @DelGriff's list of previous seasons, a season 50 hosted by "Uncle Elvis" called "Elvis". Was this an Elvis Costello season?

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